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PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE GREAT 



DEMOCRATIC EEPUBLICAN 



MEETING, 



IN THE CITY OF 



NEW-YORK, 



JAN VARY a, 1838. 



WASHINGTON : 

PRINTED AT THE MADISONIAN OFFICa 



1838. 



« 






'L'fe 






PROCEEDINGS. 



AT a meeting of the Democratic Republican Electors of the City 
and County of New York, held at the City Hall, January 2d, 1838, pur- 
suant to public notice, the call having been read, the meeting was organ- 
ized by the appointment of the following officers : — 

M. M. QUACKENBOS, President. 



VICE PRESIDENTS. 



Preserved Fish, 
James N. Wells, 
John Delamater, 
Heiirv P. Robertson, 
Gideon Lee, 
Andrew C. Wheeler, 
Ezra S. Conner, 
John R. Rhinelonder, 
Frederick A. Gay, 
Effintrham H. Warner, 
William H. Tyack, 
Daniel Jackson, 
George Greer, 
William Timpson, 
George Mills, 
Wm. B. Van Nortwick, 
John C. Beroh, 
Cornelius C. Jacobus, 
John Harlow, 
Isaac H. Underhill, 
Henry Anderson, 
Edward Jenkin?, 
George Sharpe, 
John Harris, 
Amos Palmer, 
Peter S. Titus, 
Stuart F. Randdph, 
John R. Peters, 



Judah Hammond, 
Joseph Mceks, 
Samuel Swartwout, 
Benjamin C. Gale, 
William L. Morris, 
Levi Cook, 
Uzal P. Ward, 
Benjamin Birdsall, 
Isaac Adiiancc, 
Daniel Howell, 
Elijah W. NichoUs, 
Isaac Lucas, 
Burr Wake man, 
John G. Piohr, 
John J. Cisco, 
James Harriott, 
Willet Seaman, 
Richard H. Winslow, 
James B. Murray, 
Andrew Lockwo«d, 
James D. Oliver, 
ARthony W'oodward, 
James C. Stoneall, 
James B. Douglass, 
James Dusenberry, 
Henry D. Gale, 
William H. Peck, and 
Isaac Townsend. 



SECRETARIES. 



Charles O'Connor, 
A. B. Haxtum, 
S. Jones Mumford, 
Elbridge G. Stacy, 
A. O. Millard, 
George W. Soule, 
Mortimer De Mott, 



William A. Smith, 
Luther R. Marsh, 
Edwin Townsend, 
Jacob V. Carmer, 
Caleb W. Lindsley, 
William Wycoff, 
Jacob S. Baker. 



The following resolutions were presented and unanimously adopted : 

1. Resolved, Thai the present crisis calls upon the Democratic Republican party to erect 
the standard of Jefferson and Madison, and to proclaim and reinstate the principles of '98 ; to 
frown upon every efl'ort to engraft novel doctrints upon the great " essential principles" esta- 
blished by those patriarchs of democracy, and to maintain uncompromising hostility against all 
disturbing financial measures of government and against all radical and destructive doctrine and 
sentiments. 

2. Resolved, That in a republic, it is essential to the liberty, safety and happiness of the citi- 
zen, that the government and its officers should receive their rule of action Iroin the people; 
that when this vital principle ceases to operate, when the convenience of the many is disre- 
garded or made subservient to political ambition and self-interest, it becomes a public duty to 
bring the administration back to first principles, to guard against future encroachments, and by 
cherishing the spirit of liberty and curbing that of licentiousness to secure at once the stabihty 
of the government, and the prosperity of the people. 

3. Resolved, That the past history of our country strikingly illustrates the truth of the 
declarations of Washington " that the foundations of our national policy ought to be laid in the 
pure and immutable principle of private morality." That "there is no truth more thoroughly 
established, than that there exists in the economy and course of nature an indissoluble connec- 
tion between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy, and the solid rewards 
of public prosperity." 

4. Resolved, That the course of the administration which has so deeply and suddenly affected 
the financial condition of the nation, and placed the general government in an attitude of open 
hostility to the institutions of the States and the business interests of the people, and which is 
now coupled with an effort to unite in effect the sword and the purse, evinces the existence and 
predominating influence in our national councils, of a spirit which has greatly endangered and 
threatens to subvert our republican form of government, our social institutions, and individual 
happiness. 

5. Resolved, That the scheme of destroying all state mstitutions which has been deliberately 
formed and which is now distinctly and boldly avowed as an " ulterior object" which is so 
systematically and perseveringly followed in despite of popular suffrage, will, if successful, 
virtually annihilate the State sovereignties, cast the whole power over the institutions and busi- 
ness of the country, into the hanos of the national government, and accomi,ili.->h the 
ultra federal design of consolidation, thereby practically establishing an absolute tyranny over 
these States. 

6. Resolved, That the Sub-treasury scheme is an important feature in the accomplishment 
of these " ulterior objects." That we, have seen no reason to dissent from the declaration of 
the government press in 1834, stigmatizing it as a measure "disorganizing and revoliiuonary ; 
subversive of the principles of our government, and of its entire practice from 1789 to this day, 
and which will incalculably enlarge the powers of the Executive and expose the public treasure 
to be plundered by an hundred hands where one cannot now reach it." 

7. Resolved, That we cannoi regard with greater favor the proposed substitution of a special 
deposite for the sub-treasury scheme, both contemplate the same odious principle of hoarding 
the precious metals, and shutting them out from circulation among the community to whom they 
rightfully belong, — producing violent fluctuations in the price of labor and value of property, 
making an invidious distinction between the currency of the people and that of their servants, to 
the prejudice of the former, and we believe that the disapprobation of these measures just ex- 
pressed by the democratic State of Georgia, will be followed by an immense majority of the 
great republican family in the Union. 

8. Resolved, That any system of national finance which leaves the public treasure under 
"the liberal supervisory powers of" any individual, or which has for its foundation "the volun- 
tary principle" recommended by the Executive, is unwise and inexpedient, and greatly hanassing 
and vexatious to the people. 

9. Resolved, That since the " ulterior object" of annihilating the State Institutions and des- 
troying the paper currency of the people, has been avowed, we look upon the late recouimcn- 
dation of a Bankrupt Law applicable to " Corporations and other Bankers" as an eflbrt to bring 
the business interests, and of the people under the control of the Federal Government. That 
on this subject we fully concur in the declarations made by the Honorable Martin Van Biuen, in 
the Senate of the United States, in the year 1826, when opposing the adoption of a simihir pro- 
ject ; — that " now the attempt is to be made, if not in an open and unequivocal manner, at least 
in an indirect way, to strip the States of the power of chartering Banks. That it interferes with 
the regulations which the States may have adopted for the government of these institutions, and 
is an odious exercise of power not granted by the constitution, and that this was never done and 
never attempted in any country on the face of the globe." 

10. Resolved, That we distinctly trace the war upon our State institutions to the doctrines 
promulgated in this city in 1829, by a faction, of which Robert Dale Owen, a disciple of Fanny 
Wright was leader, among the most prominent of which were the necessity of " a civil rcvolu- 



tion which would leave hchiml it no trace of any government thai had not ■provided for every human 
being, aiL equal amount of property on arriving at the age of inaturily, and during ininorily, 
equal food, clothing aiid education at the public ex/)CH«<;," and which would totally subvert the exist- 
ing '■^unequal appropriation and transmission toposlerity of the soil of the State and banking insti- 
tutions, as the great cause of the existing unhappy condition of society" and that the proper 
means of relief was "the election of men who from their own sufferings knoio how to j eel, and 
from consanguinity of feeling would be disposed to afford the remedy." 

11. Resolved, That the Democratic Republican party, organized by our Fathers, and as we ' 
maintain it, has no principles in common with these Destructives, whether pursuing their " ulte- 
rior objects" under their various names of " working mens' party," " anti-monopoly party," 
"equal rights party," or " loco foco party.'' — That their dangerous designs were held in merited 
contempt, until some leading portions of their policy were declared governing principles of the 
federal administration, and some "consanguinity of feeling" was exhibited from high official sta- 
tions. 

12. Resolved, That we observed with pain and regret that portion of the late message of 
the President which refers to the recent elections and attempts to explain the result. That we 
deem it due to the character of the citizens of this State, and to the great cause of self govern- 
ment to declare that the President has been in that respect grossly mistaken, and in his delusion 
has cast an unfounded reproach u]")on the citizens of his native State, and unwarrantably impeach- 
ed the intelligence and integrity of an enlightened and incorruptible people. 

13. Resolved, That we highly approve of the firm and independent stand taken by the Ho- 
norable N. P. Tallmadgc and his compatriots in the Senate in defending the rights and prospe- 
rity of our citizens against the ruinous experiments of those " new lights" in government finance 
and political orthodoxy whose brief sway of the party organization has produced such general em- 
barrassment in the business concerns of the people, and involved the administration in pecuniary 
and political bankruptcy. 

14. Resolved, That those representatives in Congress who have been officially denounced 
for daring to vindicate the sanctity of the public faith, and advocate the protection of private pro- 
perty, who deeming absolute acquiescence in the will of the Executive, or of his counsellors, to 
be a rule of despotic government, and not a portion of the Democratic Republican creed, have 
preferred the dictates of justice and conscience in coincidence with the manifest interests and 
plainly e.xpressed will of the people, to the smiles of executive favor and the encomiums of the 
Loco-focos, are entitled to the highest confidence and enduring gratitude of the people. 

15. Resolved, That we approve the talent, zeal and fidelity which has marked the course of 
the Madisonian, and recommend it to the support of our republican fellow citizens through the 
Union. . 

16. Resolved, That the various experiments made during the last few years to imj)rove our 
currency and enlarge our specie circulation, have ended in the derangement of the one, and the 
total disappearance of the other. That the present suflerings of the people demand the application 
of practical sense, and the lessons of experience to our financial legislation, and the retraction of 
steps hastily taken or which experience has shown to have been unwisely ado])ted. 

- 17. Resohcd, That the attempt to stifle discussion, and prevent the heresies of those in power 
from being exposed to the public view, by excluding the meeting of Democratic Republicans from 
Tammany Hall, notwithstanding the consent of the proprietor, and the approbation of the officers 
of the Democratic Pi-epublican General Committee was first obtained, is an additional evidence 
(if the audacious and prescriptive spirit which characterises the destructives, and of their deter- 
mination to prostrate liberty of speech and thought. 

18. Resolved, That the act of excluding this meeting from a place where most of us have spent 
our political lives, receives additional and fearful importance from the fact, that it has been pro^ 
duced by the unwarrantable interference of Custom House Officers, in the pay of the Treasury 
Department, and portrays the dangers which are justly apprehended from a farther extension of 
Executive patronage, in colors stronger than language can express. 

19. Resolved, That we call upon our fellow citizens throughout the State, to sever all con- 
nection with the Loco focos, and to rally under the old banner of Democratic Republican principles. 

20. Resolved, That a General Committee of vigilance and correspondence, consisting of 
three members from each Ward, be forthwith appointed, with power to confer with our brethren 
in the country, to call future meetings, to aid in procuring an organization in the several wards, 
and to adopt such other measures as may tend most effectually to arrest the progress of radicalism, 
and maintain the ascendancy, and perpetuate the principles of the Democratic Republican party. 

The following persons were appointed to form the said Committee. 

GENERAL COMMITTEE. 

1st Ward— Benjamin C. Gale, Thomas W. Wells, John R. Peters. 
2d Ward — Willett Seaman, George C. Baldwin, Henry D. Gale. 
3d Ward — John W. Degraw, William Tyack, W'm. Timpson. 



4tli Ward — Elijah W. Nicholls, Mortimer De Mott, Abraham 11. Van Nest. 

5th Ward — Joseph Mccks. John G. Rohr, John Harlow. 

6th Ward — Oliver Woodruti", Isaac Adriance, Jacob S. Baker. 

7th Ward — Levi Cook, John J. Cisco, James C. Sioneall. 

8th Ward — Ezra S. Conner, C. C. Jacobus, Albert G. Stacey. 

9th Ward — Richard B. Fosdick, William L. iMorris, Garrett Gilbert. 
10th Ward— M. M Qiiackenbos, William H. Peck, Peter S. Titus. 
11th Ward — Jeremiah Dodge, George Willis, John Heeney. 
12th Ward — John Harris. Andrew Sitcher, Charles H. Hall. 
13th Ward— E. D. Comstock, George^W. Youle, Andrew Mills. 
14th Ward— Alfred Stoutenburg, John R. Rhinelander, Edwin Townsend. 
15th Ward — Frederick A. Gay, E. H. Warner, Isaac Lucas. 
16th Ward — James N. Wells, John Delamater, Jas. Flanagan. 
17th Ward — James B. Murray, Edward Sanford, Isaac H. Undcrhill. 

Resolved, That the officers of this meeting be a committee to prepare forthwith and publish an 
Address to the Democratic Republican Electors of the State of New York, in conformity with 
the resolutions just adopted. 

Resolved, That Messrs. Winslow, Saiiford, Gay, and Jenkins be a committee to publish the 
proceedings of this meeting, together with the Address and Resolutions. 

The officers of the meeting adopted the following Address. 



ADDRESS 

TO THE DEMOCRATIC ELECTORS OF THE STATE OF 

NEW YORK. 

Fellow-Citizens : — 

On ordinary occasions the Democratic Republican Electors of the City and County of New 
York would not take the liberty of addressing you upon the deeply interesting questions of our 
party politics and public government. The events of the last three years have placed the Demo- 
cratic Republican party, to which we are attached, in a situation highly perilous and critical ; 
involved the commerce, navigation, manufactures, and internal trade of the country, in the 
deepest embarrassments, and inflicted the most unparralleled suffering and protracted distress 
throughout our once prosperous and happy land. 

In the midst of a profound and universal peace among nations, in the possession of all our 
former resources, and surroundedby all the elements of our former enjoyment, we have been 
thrown into convulsions violent and unnatural, precipitated through long suffering into an abyss 
of ruin, from which issues forth nothing but a long train of evils and misery. In conjunction with 
these affecting calamities, and deeply connected with them as a primary and aggravating cause., 
the spirit of radicalism made its open appearance, elevating its voice of destruction over the awful 
ruin, and demanding sudden and extensive changes of public policy in matters vitally concerning 
all members of society. The farther manifestations of the same spirit has led to an organization 
of a new jjarly, and the' publication of rules of faith and practice, not known to the old Democratic 
Republican principles and usages, has endangered the Republican principle-^— threatened the 
destruction of institutions demanded by the exigencies of civilized society, and alarmed our 
citizens for the safety of " that state of property, whether equal or unequal, which results to every 
man from his own industry, or that of his fathers." During the early part of the period to which 
we have referred, these dangerous feelings and sentiments were confined to a comparatively few 
individuals in the city of New York, who have maintained for several years a species of separate 
organization, and acted politically with or against the Democratic Republican party, as the 
means of best subserving their own interests dictated. Previously to the year 1834 they had 
been known as the workingmen's party, and in the autumn of that year, through the organiza- 
tion of a Trades' Union, they procured a partial share in the honors of representation, at the 
hands of the Democratic Republican party. 

Our fellow citizens entertained but little apprehension of the general prevalence of radical and 
destructive sentiments in the community at large, and the confident belief that these dangerous 
doctrines could never reach the elevated places in the government of the nation, until individuals 
distinguished for their hostility to many of our civil institutions and the sacred rites of religion, 
were chosen and installed as public legislators in our State and National councils. Thus 



honored, and receiving character through the errors committed by the Democratic RepubHcan 
party, and deriving subsequently some countenance for a portion of their sentiments from the 
State and National administrations, " the equal rights" iparty openly endeavored to assume the 
lead and make their dogmas the creed of the Democratic Republican faith. That our fellow 
citizens may understand whither we are tending, while being drawn into this new vortex of revo- 
lution, we deem it our duty to place briefly before them the declared designs of radicalism, that 
the " ulterior objects" of the present movements may be foreseen, and circumvented by the 
people. In the year 1829 the radicals of this city, organizing then as " the workingmen's party," 
declared themselves " against Banks, Auctions, Charters, Exemptions of Church and Priests^ 
properly from taxation," and, In their published report at that time, call for the abolition ot 
Banks, and furnish a plan which may have been the basis of the sub-treasury scheme of our own 
day. They declare against the existence of wealth, against the laws of inheritance by which 
property is to be transmitted to posterity, and demand a civil revolution, that no trace may be 
left of a go.vernment which has denied to every human being an equal amoiint of property 

ON ARRIVING AT THE AGE OF MATURITY, and, J[)re-BJO«S thereto, EQUAL FOOD, CLOTHING AND 

INSTRUCTION AT THE PUBLIC EXPENSE. They call our citizens "robbers and plunderers," 
who deny to them the equal enjoyment of the " materials of nature, which," they declare to be 
'• the common and equal right of all." They propose to accomplish this " civil revolution," 
by electing men, who, from consanguinity of feeling will be disposed to do all they can to 
afford a remedy." 

These were no secret proceedings of a band of conspirators against liberty and happiness, but 
the open sentiments of a public meeting, composed of many of the men afterwards forming the 
"equal rights," and now the -'loco foe o "( party, and having entire "consanguinity of feehng," 
with the loco foco party of the present day ! 

Fellow citizens ! we have maintained a faithful, vigorous and for a time, we hoped, a successfnl 
war aaainst these innovations. The Democratic Republicans met them hand to hand, and over- 
threw them on the memorable occasion of their lighting their torches, and obtaining their dis- 
tinctive name of loco foco, and triumphed in the election of an unpledged Democratic Republican 
ticket. Entertaining a generoirs disposition at all times to conciliate without sacrificing our 
principles, to |)romote the success of our political party, we have since at times endeavored to 
bring the loco focos to the principles and usages of the Democratic republican party, and without 
surrendering our principles or betraying our cause to maintain its political ascendancy. These 
various efforts have established the conviction on our minds of the utter and irreconcileable 
difference between Democratic Republicanism and Loco Focoism I We have uniformly found 
them acting in bad faith towards us, and our candidates, when professing union and concord, 
promoting the election of their own candidates, and striking off the names of the Democratic 
Republicans on the same ticket, and presenting the extraordinary spectacle of a state of war 
atrainst us, while we were under a treaty of peace with them. 

While this contest between the antagonist principles of Democratic Republicanism and Loco 
Focoism has continued unabated, but by our efforts to conciliate, occasional advantages have 
been gained by the Loco Focos, and their numbers have become enlarged by the addition of 
those who are studious of the current of executive favor, from the similarity traced between 
some executive communications and portions of their declared sentiments. 

These occasional coincidences have been greeted by the Loco Focos, as evidences of " con- 
sanguinity of feeling" on the part of the distinguished authors, but not credited as such by the 
great body of our fellow citizens until the past autumn. 

When the first message of the President was conlmunicated to Congress, and published 
through the land, that document was hailed by the Loco Focos as the mirror of their doctruies 
and feelings, they hastened to assemble at their established place of meeting in this city to 
express the approbation "of the whole genuine democracy" " of a governmental system of finance 
founded exclusivcbj upon the constitutional currency, gold and silver," and pledged themselves to 
rally round and uphold the present administration " in the speedy restoration of a gold and silver 
currency." The journal published in this city which was looked to, as the fountain of ultra loco- 
-focoism recognised in the avowal of principles and recommendation of measures of that message, 
the principles which that paper had uniformly and zealously asserted, and honored the President 
by expressing great joy to find them repented from the representative of the American people. 
And yet this journal claiming to be the original source of the "principles and measures" of the first 
message had never claimed to be a supporter of, or been recognized by the Democratic Republi- 
can party ! 

Had the President in the first message expressly designed to secure the favor and support of 
the loco focos, instead of presenting himself " in the attributes which can win the affections of 
the American people and command the respect of the world," he could not probably have gained 
more applause from the loco focos, or more surprised the great mass of his fellow citizens! 

We have been active and zealous in effecting the advancement of the chief magistrate of the 
nation to his present elevated station. Many of us have been devoted to his political interests 
and entertained personal regard and attachment towards him in less prosperous political seasons, 



8 

and in early days of little promise. — We entertained the hope and expectation that the Presi- 
dent would come to the administration of the general government in a magnanimous spirit ; 
that he would check the tendency to depart from the old established principles and land marks of 
the republican party, that he would adhere to the republican principles avowed by Jefferson and 
Madison as the basis of their respective administrations, and m so far as we might have " deviat- 
ed in concessions to the loco focos would hasten to regain the road which alone leads to peace, 
liberty and safety." 

We participated in the general surprise and disappointment with which the first message was 
received. We found measures recommended for the special and immediate action of Congress, 
which in our judgment were not calculated to aid the country in its distress, but on the contrary 
to increase the difficulties, and aggravate the existing disorders. Those measures had not been 
demanded except by the loco focos, these comprising a very small part of the great body of our 
fellow citizens, and we availed ourselves of the recommendation of the President, and gave the 
subject a ^^ fall and free discussion.'" At an early period after the publication of the 'first 
message, we assembled in public meeting and made known the results of " our dispassionate 
comparison of opinions." 

In regard to the Sub-Treasury scheme and the national bankrupt law, applicable solely to in- 
corporations and bankers, we could not, as consistent Democratic Republicans, concur in the re- 
commendations of the President, and accordingly published our dissent to the world. Without 
entering into a particular e.xamination of the merits of these propositions in this place, it will 
suffice to remark that the Sub-Treasury scheme was originally an opposition project, introduced 
to the attention of Congress in 1834, and then disapproved of unqualifiedly by General Jackson 
and his Cabinet, by Vice Picsident Van Burcn and all the democratic members of Congress; 
and the opposition of Senator Van Buren to the bankrupt law in 1826, and his declaring its inter- 
ference in the regulations of the Slate governments, " was an odious exercise of power not 
granted hy the Constitution" was one of the most prominent of his acts which secured to him 
the favor and confidewce of the Democratic Republican party. 

From the avidity with which the President's first message was received by the Loco Focos, 
and adopted as a faithful exposition of the views for which they contended, and from a perfect 
knowledge of the total difference between Democratic Republicanism and Loco Focoisin, and 
a firm belief that " uncompromisiyig and unqualified, hostility" to Loco Focoism is deriianded by 
" the honor and interests of the country." We have seen with deep anxiety and deep regret a 
determination on the part of the National Executive to persist in his course, the tendency of 
which is to give the predominance to that faction in whose hands, our citizens are convinced 
there would be neither safety to the public institutions, nor protection to private property and 
personal freedom. 

We have shown to you the designs of some of these deluded men in the year 1829, and we 
know them personally ; and theirs is the general character of the factious, the turbulent and 
discontented in every free country. They'are chiefly idle and unemployed, or filling small offices, 
and chiefly profligate in their personal lives, having little to lose in property and nothing to hurt 
in conscience. We cannot better illu.strate the insecurity of Republican Institutions, and the 
danger of individual liberty and property in their hands than by reference to their proceedings 
at a public meeting held last spring in the Park of this city. They were called together by hand 
bills, posted in various parts of the city bearing prominent inscription of the catch words used 
by their party " the friends of equal rights," " opposed to all monopolies and special legislation," 
" in favor of a separation of Bank and State." After passing a series of resolutions proijosing 
to abolish all laws for the enforcement of contracts, the assemblage proceeded in a body to the 
vicinity of the large warehouses of domestic produce, and there sacked several stores in open day 
in defiance of the civil authorities, and exhibited 'k scene of public riot, lawless violence, and 
wanton destruction ! 

Can we who have witnessed this, be soothed into a state of insensibility to our danger as 
Republicans and citizens. When we behold the common principles and sentiments of these 
men "repeated from the representative of the American people !" When we behold the cur- 
rent of official confidence and communication addressed to the leaders of these wretched men, 
and when by the new interpretation of old rules, and new glosses upon exploded doctrines and 
theories, a systematic and deliberate effort making to create what in practice we believe will be 
found to be a strong consolidated Anti-Republican and irresistible executive government] In 
the name of liberty we answer no ! We have yet, fellow citizens, our rights and our elective 
franchise, and we trust that we shall not be deterred from the use of the one for the protection 
of the other ! 

In view of this situation of the Democratic Republican party, we feel called upon to express 
our sentiments with deliberation and fidelity, and to summon those who with us, in embracing the 
Democratic Republican faith, consecrated themselves to the defence of the rights of the States and 
of the people, against the invasions of licentiousness, and the encroachments of usurpation, to 
erect the standard of Jefferson and Madison, and rally on the old land marks of principle. We- 
have chosen and placed in power Democratic Republican rulers, who will not be unfaithful to 



their principles, if our political brethren remain true to themselves. In a government founded 
by the people for their own benefit, and by the Constitution of which the will of the people is 
the paramount law, with frequent elections and vote by ballot, there is little reason to apprehend 
that any portion of our rulers will continually disregard the demands of the public interests, 
or insult the majesty, question the capacity for self-government and intelligence, or impeach the 
integrity of the people. In other Republics instances have occurred in which the mere crea- 
tures of the people's will, raised by their voice to high stations, have, in the plenitude of their 
power, forgotten the source and foundation of their greatness and swayed an iron sceptre over 
the people. These innovators gained power by small additions, disclaimmg all wish to pos- 
sess it, while the eager hand was stretched forth to grasp it and endeavoring to show that each 
new demand was but a shade different from that before acquired until the very shadow of free- 
dom was lost in the increasing gloom of despotism. Kings have " refused their assent to laws 
the most wholesome and necessary to the public good," and our ancestors threw off the yoke im- 
posed upon their necks by such a grievance ; but we have no petty tyrants in the growth of 
this soil of freedom " to fatigue us into a compliance with their measures" or to prevent our 
assembling to " oppose with manly firmness all in\asions on the rights of the people." 

We declare ourselves friends of human liberty to the utmost extent compatible with protec- 
tion, and friends of the Constitution administer I upon Democratic Republican principles, re- 
garding the people as the sole and safe depository of all power, principles, and opinions, which 
are to direct the government. We proclaim an incessant hostility to despotism, and tyranny 
in any and every shape, whether ruling with a dictatorial and imperious sway by a single autocrat, 
or by directing or controlling a strict party organization with bitter and persecuting intolerance. 
We avow independence of mind, freedom of thought, freedom of discussion, " the arraignment 
of all abuses at the bar of public reason" as the essential attributes of freedom ; and the civil 
and moral obligation of all citizens to "improve their reason and obey its mandates" as the 
only safeguard in a Democratic Republican Government. 

W'e have witnessed many evidences that the practice under our government is an invasion of 
the theory that public sentiment is looked for from our rulers instead oi from the people ; that the 
views of leaders have been made to control the parly, instead of the views of the party having 
controlled the leaders ; that, in an appalling crisis, when general alarm and anxiety prevailed and 
the general inquiry has been from citizen to citizen " what can we do to restore the prostrate 
honor of the country '!" some have delayed an expression of their opinion and said " let us wait 
until the message of the President appears, and then we shall knoiv what to do /" that when 
considering the means of best promoting the general welfare and advancing the greatest good 
of the whole, others have inquired what the President might think, and not what the People 
demanded or would approve. We have witnessed occasions in which some of the representatives 
of the people, coming fresh from their constituents, thrilling with their feelings and burning under 
the sense of their dishonor and the discredit of our beloved country, in the generous fervor of 
their hearts, have honestly blamed some errors and faithfully disapproved of some measures 
" their consciences did not sanction ;" and we have since seen the columns of a journal claiming 
to be " distinguished by the present confidence of the Administration," laboriously endeavor- 
ing to destroy these individuals and strip from them the confidence and support of the People ! 
Such things were not practised in the name of the Democratic Republican party in the early 
history of the Republic. 

Permit us briefly to advert to the first course of the administration of the general government, 
and to the origin of the Democratic Republican party of the nation to ascertain the principles 
upon which they were based, and to enable us to define our political course by the rules of well 
settled authority and successful experience. 

General Washington was elected the first President of the United States, and had been 
the President of the Convention which framed the Constitution. He commenced his adminis- 
tration by declaring to Congress that " the welfare of our country is the great object to which 
our cares and efforts ought to be directed." He early congratulated the representatives of the 
people upon the fertility of our resources ; the increase of national respectability, and credit ; 
and. bore honorable testimony to the patriotisns and integrity of the mercantile and marine portion 
of our citizens, declaring that " the punctuality of the merchants in discharging their engagements 
had been exemplary." He farther declared that uniformity in the currency of the United States is 
an object of great importance and ought to be duly attended to, and that agriculture, commerce 
and manufactures ought to be advanced by all proper means. 

He was succeeded by John Adams, under whose administration there was a manifest ten- 
dency to enlarge the Executive powers of the general government, to encroach upon the rights of 
the States and the liberties of the people, and to hold up a consolidated and overshadowing 
central government. In opposition to this course of things, to counteract this tendency of the 
general government and to maintain and defend the rights of the States and of the People, the 
Democratic Republicans of '98 united as a political party and elected Thomas Jefferson. 

Their desitrns and desires were to limit the general government to the external relations of 
the States and foreign nations, and to the mutual internal relations of the States, protecting the 



10 

rifrhts of the States against consolidation, and through the separate State sovereignties, protect- 
ing the persons, reputations and property of the citizens. 

The inauguration of Mr. Jefferson took place in 1801, and his address on that occasion embodies 
forth the great essential principles of our government as contended for by the Democratic Repub- 
licans of his time, and which Mr. Jefferson declared " ought to shape its administration." We 
embraced these principles in early life ; we have made them the rule of^our faith and the cement 
of our political union, and we here declare an inflexible determination to maintain them in their 
purity, and to defend them in their excellence, as " the sum of good government." We inscribe 
them on the pages of this address, and a just sense of their deep importance and solemn truth 
will caude them to sink deep into your minds. 

Jefferson declares these great "essential principles" to be "equal and exact justice to all 
men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political ; peace, commerce and honest friend- 
ship with all nations, entangling alliances with none ; the support of the State governments in 
all their rights as the most competent administrations for our domestic concerns, and the surest 
bulwarks agamst anti-republican tendencies ; the preservation of the general government in its 
•whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad ; a jeal- 
ous care of the right of election by the People, a mild and safe corrective of abuses which are 
lopped by the sword of revolution where peaceable remedies are unprovided; absolute ac- 
quiescence in the decisions of the majority the vital principle of republics from which is no ap- 
peal but to force, the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism ; a well-disciplined 
militia our best reliance in peace and for the first moment.s of war till regulars may relieve 
them ; the supremacy of the civil over the military authority ; economy in the public expense that 
labor may be lightly burdened, the honest payment of our debts and the sacred preservation of 
the public faith ; encouragement of agriculture and of commerce as its handmaid, the diffusion 
of information and the arraignment of all abuses at the bar of public reason — freedom of the 
press, and freedom of the person under the protection of the Habeas Corpus, and trial by juries 
impartially selected. "These principles" says the immortal Jefferson "form the bright constel- 
lation which has gone before us and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reforma- 
tion. The wisdom of our sages and blood of our heroes have been devoted to their attainment. 
They should be the creed of our political faith, the text of civic instruction, the touchstone by 
which to try the services of those we trust, and should we wander from them in moments of error 
or of alarm, let us hasten tq retrace our steps and regain the /oaa which alone leads to peace, 
liberty and safety." 

Here we have given to us the great land marks of Republicanism " the creed of our political 
faith, the touchstone by which to try the services of those we trust," and " he who is not with us 
is against us," and against the publicly declared principles of Thomas Jefferson. 

In the messages of Mr. Jefferson to Congress he declares that agriculture, manufactures, 
commerce and navigation are the four great pillars of our prosperity," and states that "protec- 
tion from casual embarrassments may sometimes be seasonably interposed." Mr. Jefferson was 
always happy to commit the affairs of our government to the collected wisdom of the nation, 
and pledged himself to carry the legislative judgment int,o execution, and tendered his cordial 
concurrence in every measure for the public good. Mr. Jefl(>rson also stated that he " looked to 
Conoress for the measures of wisdom which the great interests 6f the country committed to them 
demanded," and "gave them the opportunity oiproviding the means vi\\\Q,h he \\as to execute.^' 
He submitted to Congress whether " the great interests of agriculture, commerce, navigation 
and manufactures could be aided in their relations, and whether any thing could be done to ad- 
vance the general good as within the limits of the functions of Congress." And he assured the 
representatives of the people that in " all matters which Congress might propose for the good 
of our country, they might count on his hearty co-operation and faithful execution." Mr. Jeffer- 
son assumed the administration of the Executive (not Legislative and Executive,) department, 
and promised co-operation with Congress in every measure that might tend to secure the liberty, 
property, and personal safety of our fellow citizens. "To their wisdom" Mr .Jefferson "looked 
for the course he was to pursue,^' and declared that "he would pursue with sincere zeal that 
which they should approve." 

These, fellow citizens, were the republican practices of Thomas Jefferson in the administra- 
tion of the government of the nation for eight years. In them we behold a faithful expo;iition of 
the great " essential principles" declared at the commencement of his presidential term, a beau- 
tiful illustration of the republican principle in his unlimited confidence in, and attachment to, the 
representative government, and a just sense of the democratic character of our government in 
bis frank, incessant and unqualified devotion to the freedom and happiness of all. 

We look in vain to the messages of Mr. Jefferson, foi any indications of a fancied superiority, 
on his part, in devotion t.o the constitutional and to the [performance of the proper functions of his 
office, over the representatives of the people, or charges implying doubts of the capacity or in- 
tegrity of the people in the management of their private affairs or public interests, or any alleged 
superiority in competency and fidelity of the officers of the federal government over their fellow 
citizens, to keep and disburse the public revenue ; or any urging of specific measures, not ema- 



u 

uating from (.Ik: people or their representatives, by the whole weight of executive influence, 
or any " forcing of blessings upon the people"against their will, and convictions of public benefit. 

Daring the period of the administration of Mr. Jefferson, we had banks, and we had a paper 
currency, and the government received, and the banks kept the public money in the same cur- 
rency that the people had always used ; and yet we do not find, in the messages of Mr. Jeffer- 
son, any suggestion, that had the e.xtension of the banking system been foreseen, it would 
probably have been guarded against by the framers of the Constitution, or that the same policy 
which led to the prohibition of bills of credit by the States, loould have also interdicted their issue 
AS A cuRREKCY i>f ANY OTitER FORM, Or that it vvould bo an evidende ef " intelligence and 
virtue," on the part of the people to abandon them, or that "the federal government would 
promote the accomplishment of that impor/ant ohjcci. 7" 

We do not find in the messages of Mr. Jefferson, any question of the propriety of the govern- 
ment's receiving and using the same money with the people, or of the people's using their 
money, until it was wanted by the government for their own purposes, or any proposition " to 
return to the constitutional currency of gold and silver," or any mention made of a separation 
of " Bank and State," or the necessity of the discrediting bank paper, or any wish manifested 
to urge on the people to " untried expedients. " 

Mr. Jefferson needs no eulogy at our hands, as the bold and eloquent supporter of human 
liberty, and the rights of man. The author of the Declaration of Independence has not yet been 
cast so far into the shade, by the discoveries of his successors in the great science of political 
freedom, as to require us to brush away any mists before the resplendent glory of his political 
life and public sentiments. 

Mr. Jefferson \ievved the government of the United States as belonging to the people, and 
not the people as belonging to the government. He viewed the office of President as an execu- 
tive OFFICE, to carry the legislative jiidorment into execution, that Congress were to propose 
matters for the onod of our country, and that he was to faithfully execute them. 

Under this Jeiffersonian form of administering the government, the great measures of the 
people's interests, the people's wants, and the people's wishes, were placed in the hands of their 
immediate representatives in Congress chosen by them for that purpose, being among them, 
feeling and enjoying their prosperrtv. or suffering their adversity, subject to their instructions, 
and accountable to them for their public acts. To this body, thus happily formed to accomplish 
the great <?tids of a good government, the constitution has secured to our citizens the sacred 
right of petition and of application for redress and relief. 

During the admiriisfration of Mr. Jefferson, there were calamities suffered by the country, 
bearing heavily upon the industry, the interests, and happiness of large classes of citizens. 
Applications were made to the Executive and Congress of the nation for relief, the difficulties 
and embarrassments under which our citizens labored, and the measures of the general govern- 
ment, capable of bearing upon them and promoting the public welfare, were freely and publicly 
discussed by our citizens, without anv consideration of how far the will of the people might or 
might not accord with the will of their executive servants ; the people spoke their sentiments 
without "waiting for messages of the President," and if the people happened to differ with their 
executive officer, there was no official journal to denounce them as corrupt, and no longer de- 
mocratic republicans. -^ 

Hence, we do not find" in the administration of Mr. Jefferson, any indications that the com- 
plaints of the people are offensive to the E.tecutive ; or that the people are too restive under 
their burthens ; or any executive admonition, that " communities are apt to look to government 
too much,'''' or any special reprimand to the people of our own country declaring them especially 
*^ prone to do so. " 

Mr. Jefferson entertained great doubts whether our organization was not too complicated and 
too expensive ; whether officers and offices had not been multiplied unnecessarily and injuriously, 
and A« began the reduction, " that it might never be seen here that after leaving to labor the 
smallest portion of its earnings on which it can subsist, government itself shall consume the 
residue of what it was instituted to guard." And we hear of no applications from Mr. Jefferson 
to create a multitude of new offices, and to quarter upon us large bodies of office holders to 
" take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned." 

During the administration of Mr. Jefferson the State sovereignties created banks and passed 
such acts of special legislation as appeared to them best calculated to promote the public 
welfare, and we do not find any assaults, or any open or covert efforts to destroy, or assume 
the control ("through the liberal supervisory powers of the Secretary of the Treasury" and 
Bankrupt laws) of the State institutions. Mr. Jefferson's views of " equal rights, equal laws, and 
equal justice," were not so far affected by these acts of the people, through their representatives, 
as to induce him to make mention in his messages of the existence or tendency of this state of 
things ; and the discovery of these alleged violations, has beon made by later patriots and 
philanthropists who claim a more "genuine democracy" than that of Mr. Jefferson and the 
Republicans of '98. . Mr. Jefferson regarded the Union and Constitution of government of the 
United States as a Federal Republic, and claimed to be a Republican ; and in his message 
we find the sound and just views of a federal republican recognizing and giving just effect to 



12 

&e AiMwriiilli pi j wjfiijlr , ktt ■■( Aft "dartiinps rf di ■!» i w w in die tanJIest sense of tiK 



We 1b«c iIrb calei jwnrifiaeiBs to wisat was asd «kii was BOit DfeBBcntic RqunbficBaism 

ic tue 'dajiv «f Ttwimit irdirii ii— "*« adaMBfittaisaa aad«f lie JxaJiitimw «f ttar pohaa] party. 

IIj. Itb&fioa ^noeeded to tihe Freaiatfial cjfaxar, and ihnm^bBat. all bis SKsn^es we §al tbe 
SBBempiAdiaaineaREaf ttiie CBBcaAne dIuBactcr «f lis sscaabotu, and of <k power aod dwiyaf 
CasusiiisB to ^vonne tne Beaas, aaa ob bbe osBSlast wigs to Ik ihuUimbujuiI ia prooMOBg Ibe 
«c^i>B, hiijij»iiifnis aud puMiyu i tjf mi dbe cooanr tint dHaaderiaed lie adHndstraioaa of Mr 
Je&nos. a&d hit jmhc hSe and ■ nAiagt fona a noauiMeat of «4at CKwftiiaaBd Demotxai:: 
Befrfiw aaiiiMMi jatdy alifeengeeiiiA«ifeaBdgkwiaaa. 

Tlieie fukjiifj lffs asd yraraiees, ST^nved and eie u iiiM d % JeSenaa and Maditoa ftSTa li>e 
I' iim iittiii p i ii a cj^i B «f dsMBcnaic repaldkMiiiiw to wikk -we baie ever beea, acd st^ are, 
faadf aBUihr id Tlbeff l»ve ^««b taatiw id e to fiatt aad pat ieu Mi to bope tu seaMms af adTereilT. 
and tuMu a i i F aee a ga to oar fKAnimi ctfbrto. Bat tie iaeton u> wtodi we hare callt c vout 
iiH iiHrtiiaa , are aMhaaaas af yvvtr aad hape to accagqiiiA iJaegr oi i fuJ i by iafcaar _ 
•f <faepBDfae fcrr^Migp. Tlie 8tra|;s^af tlKseaaei^Kn of «ade4y would bat i. 
gxest aociai ooaaipsct nesdded bv otSer cao«>es; bat oar cxoaeos anfiier a Busttmtaoe v. 'i.e s^ine 
lane, is tiae agaubnae caased by tbe gwer j MBC Brt af t^ naisn. Oar RqnibBc bavjiig been 
faaaded lia e iaayiwiiM ea, coaxaiaE mmr exoopilaanabie Statnts, wben se^anady ooia3»ai>bd wiih 
a fe iiUail sa3Biwd&,and l^ese aanaif id paftdoic and wobU be exchare feeodsof tie people, 
aeats am Abbb pawts. aed woa&d laddy tesr ibea foxa die etiadwr even ibwcub l&er dioiaJd 
bssBgdswa tbe semple ci Ubertx oq ibeir*bea<iE. We woidd slaj their nrad, defntMrtirc. and 
niaaas cSbito. We £eei «e ikiiBocaadc n^bl»cs.as aad ciuz««£,\i^t the sacsHl £ie «»f ffee- 
6aai and the last bope of RcfK^taa Itisth:ui>au£ aie dee^ and fiia&r c43aQ]sutted to die 
Amtaam peeple. We were M^gaamed as a poliucal paAr in amyoil of wbat JoSenoa tensed 
'-' lite eeaeBtxai pwae^fes'" of oar g o a en gu em- 

If •« faher m litek aappait, if aw st&r ouaa cl iei to be draws ham the sroond wbicb we 
•ng^aaSy O Lcay a iA , we penl oar saesed trosl aed jtojiard t^ ho)x caise of Oeedom aad seif- 
ftaiiiiiiMiif A. We oogbl oot, we wffl aot be voiry of sodi acts of panjcide ! 

We bate read tbe aeooad aaesea^ of ibe PrntdrniT aafl ax free to declare, tbat we do oc>: 
fed IB bis p e nevnum i e asid addsioBil iaiji,|i if'iniii m rebtaoa to tbe Sub-treasary scbeiBe, any 
tbiag to leaoMW ibe wei gb lj ohye et a o— and tupeHaig dai^er whacb destntred it with tite Repcbli- 
caa party ia IS34, wbes it was biOBgbt tatmud as aa oppotoios measine. We caasot discover 
ia k aay mare bi t mMf or lees da iugciw s featoiea becaaae it is mow bioagbt ibrwud br a i^m 
wtoHB we baae aoppeirted. It wac ibe frimripfe, asd oat ibe ««aerc£ of ti>e project ibat caosed 
Ike I> D w o ( ja tic Be p aWka aa to lepodtato it, a^id « e caaaoC now sqipoit ibe Bscbanged pnocqile 
bcca a jc a ooaea fimoi a ^rifa c to set of mat. PrmdfAem are is tbor sat-are iunaauUe, and as 
ibe Sab-tieasBrr atbfiWM was aa oppimtwm ^i»a^ in 1S31, we cannot aidmit or bebere it to 
be Deaaacxatae Bf|aiWir naii iia in 1B38. 

We eppoae ibe SdMjeasonr ar b ranf. eidier igeoecalk. ar to tbe special deposit loan sogsested 
as a sadMtilate, sot on^ from tbe atamy ebjectioas in piiacifMe to be nidged against eacb, as 
Aifuiir Ibe balifip of ibe CaoMtotioB. bat al<>e '--'"•» ■■ ■- ■ -N-trbl forwaid as tbe great an- 
tagoiuet ^ Ibe credBt sycDem, and iu e&cts eot . uon r.,f tbe credit system. 

We are ia finor of tbe eiedlic ^atem becsosc - oQspriDg of libertr. and we 

oppose Ibe StdMieasaty baiil meaew scbeme, beca'jse iiard utoo^ a ^' tbe coastitut>or:al curren- 
cy" of afl despotic g o tftnu aeata. We sapp o it tbe credit E3'^em because it is est^eatiaiiv detno- 
ccalae, eijaal and aBirersal, we oppose tbe iaard mooer Sub-tTeascrr sclieiiie becaose solid wealth 
u OKchiaTe in its riuxacter and oef^er circolates amoDg masses. \^'e soppon tbe credit Ejstem 
be eawae it is getdal to Uherty. we oppoce ibe bard ibodct Sob-treasoiy project because it is 
anstoeratie in its te n dcocy. — We aappoit tbe csedit c^-E^m because it ^irea to actiritr, enterprise 
aad merit, aa eqaal foodag and cbapc e of aoccess with realized weaixh. and we oppose the bard 
aoeey Sob-tteasiny a cb wae. because it woold rbeck competition, baild up strong, endurin?. 
aad oyewha fow ii ^ h aaiaess bocses, and desdof tbe repubbcan feat ores of our governnieot. "We 
eappott tbe credit erelein beea;ase tbe peofie bave framed it. and are ideutiSed witb it. and we 
oppose tbe hard ujaaer Sut>-trea&c:ry ecbeaie becaoee it ts hof tile to tbe interests and agaiiist the 
e^Heaeed wisbes of tbe people. 

We an in Enror of ibe mdit srstega, becaase it is friendly to ibe laborer and predocer, and 
acanen its IdnmiiigB opoa dw poor rnaa as vreO as tbe nch. We «^pose tbe baid mocier Sub- 
toaeofy create, because it woold make br^ aod piioceiy fottAses for tbe now wealthy, and 
di^Eade ibe nridde and iabotiog eitazeas to tbe coudition of their cJares. We are in faTor of the 
c(i«iit eirsteai, becaooe br it. the poor £uBMr is enairied to obtain bis lands and implements of 
faasbandiy, tbe poor w****"*^ bis instmmeala of an and stock in trade, the laboring man his 

Swages aad eoostast ea^dtfymeat, aad eaeiy man who bean a tolerable character, coupled 
utdusby, bas a eertaia aseaBS oi betteriag his conditioo. We oppose the Sub-treasurY 
acbet&e. becaaae it irall craaip tiie eaeigies aad blast tiie bappiness of our people. We support 
tbe credit nrsteai, becaaae k baa been the great lerer of <Kir adTaccement as individaals, and as 



13 

a nation in wealth and prosperity. It lias enabled us to pav off an immense national debt, covered 
our lands with fertile fields, thriving villacres, towns and ciiies ; constructed canals, rail roads and 
manufactories ; increased commerce and navigation, and in the short space of half a century, 
elevated our youthful nation to an equal station with the Kingdoms of ages in the old world. 

We oppose the hard money scheme, because examples derived from Monarchies are not 
models for Kepublican mutation, and while we look upon the splendor of Kiii^s, Princes, and 
Aobles of Europe, and the "gold glittering through the silken meshes of their puT-ses" we behold 
the chams of slavery upon their poor degraded people. We support the credit system, because 
It IS a part of the great legacy of freedom and happiness transmitted to us, with ourpohtical rights 
by our ancestors, and we oppose the Sub-treasury scheme because it is " disor<ranizincT and revo- 
futionary, subversive of the principles of our government, and of its entire practice^from 1789 
to this day. We oppose the Sub-treasury scheme because it will plant a new phalanx of tax 
gatherers among the people, drawing from them by the strong arm of Executive power, their 
hard earnings and hard money, leaving to the people on whom they fatten, a naked subsistence, 
and a broken currency. We oppose the Sub-treasury scheme, because it will add another 
cohort, to that army of officers of the general government now quartered upon the people, 
disturbing their deliberations in public assemblies, interfering with and destroying the purity of 
their elections, and attempting to overawe all expressions of dissatisfaction with the measures 
of the federal government. We oppose the Sub-treasury scheme because it will incalculably 
;' enlarge the powers of the E.\-ecutive," unite the sword and purse in his hands contrary to the 
intent and spirit of the Constitution, endanger the safety of the public money, and " expose it to 
be plundered by an hundred hands where one cannot now reacn it." We oppose the Sub-treasury 
scheme because it is destructive of the industry, enterprise, prosperity, happiness and indepen- 
dence of the people ! r I J 11 t 

Since this scheme has received an ofScial and executive countenance from departments of the 
General Government, elections have been held in several of the States of the Union, at which 
the candidates were supported on the grounds of favor or opposition to this dangerous project, 
and the ballot boxes have proclaimed with a decisiveness unexampled in our history the attach- 
ment of the people to their own institutions, and their settled convictions against the measure. 
. "Absolute acquiescence in the will of the majority is the vital principle of republics," and the 
sub-treasury scheme has been submitted to this Jeffersonian touch-stone and found wanting. 

We have referred to the origin of the sub-treasnry scheme to show that it was never a mea- 
sure of the Democratic Republican party, and to include this forlorn hope of the opposition in 
the articles of Republican faith, it has been lately for the first time contended that whatever 
shall be recommended by the executive chosen by one party must be supported by the Demo- 
cratic Republicans as a part of their political creed ! We warn you fellow citizens against ih's 
dangerous attempt upon your own liberty and the freedom of your own country ! To submit to 
this is to sacrifice independence of mind, freedom of thought, freedom of discussion, freedom 
of conscience, and liberty of the will ! to sacrifice all the great principles of freedom for which 
the pilgrims braved the perils of the ocean and sought an asylum in the savage wilderness ; to 
yield up all the manly attributes for which our ancestors declared their independence and waded 
through the blood of the revolution, and surrender a glorious birthright, without receiving even a 
"mess of pottage." But, we thank Heaven, fellow citizens, that it has not yet come to this ; we 
can yet hold our servants accountable for their political opinions and public conduct to the sove- 
reign people, and the people are not yet subjected to arraignments for their sentiments and con- 
duct at the charge of their public servants. 

Fcllow-Cilizens : — Is it not time that these agitating and absorbing questions should be quieted 
and composed? Cannot the people purchase their peace, and stay the agitating arm of Go- 
vernment, which rocks and shakes the social fabric and business affairs of our country to their 
foundations, without surrendering their libeities and institutions! It was generally supposed 
before the meeting of Congress at the present session, that the recent elections had settled the 
sub-treasury scheme, on the Jefl[iersonian rule of acquiescence, in the will of the majority. The 
President, in his last message, has deemed it proper to look behind the ballot-box, and to judge 
of the causes which brought the people to the polls, and the motives and inducements which gave 
or withheld the votes, and to decide that the people have not really spoken. However eager 
we may suppose the advocates of the Sub-treasury scheme to be, to escape the convictiorTof 
having totally mistaken the character of the people, we were not prepared by any previous re- 
publican example, for any attempt to overrule or adjust the decision of the people through the 
ballot-box. Much less did we anticipate that the f)atriotism and integrity of our citizens were 
to be impeached, their purity and intelligence questioned, or the sentiment proclaimed that th^ 
executive servants and representatives in the councils of the nation, were not to be influenced 
by the suffrages of a majority of the voters of the State of New York! It is due to the character 
of the ciiizens of this State, and not less to the republican institutions of our country, to declare 
that the President in his last message, in respect to our late election, and the cause assigned by 
him for the result, has adopted a most unfounded and wanton libel upon our citizens of all 
political parties, only worthy of its original source in the official paper. We regretted this 



34 

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a. liar 



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15 

to receive aad use as the common medium of circulation; the small bills issued b)^ foreign 
corporatiors, while the banks of our own State are prohibited by law from supplying our 
citizens with this essential part of the currency at the present period. The exclusion of the 
small-notes of our own State operates injuriously upon all, and subjects us, to taxation in 
the interest upon the circulation to our sister States. We are in favor of a suspension of 
the act prohibiting our Banks from issuing bills under the denomination of five dollars, 
that they may meet the wants and convenience of our citizens, and expel the foreign 
circulation. 

On the important subject of our State internal improvements we b3g leave to call your 
attent;on to its former grandeur and glory, and its present condition within our borders. — 
During the administration of Dewitt Clinton, our State acquired a standing for the extent 
of i:s public works, the boldness of its plans for improvements and the sudden and success- 
ful completion of their important details, worthy of its population and resources, and plac- 
ing it in the front rank of the Confederacy. 

The noble example, and proud results of this great employment of our ample means and 
credit, have stimulated our sister States to improve their territories and .the means of 
inter-communication, and emulate us in the honorable career of advancement. But in the 
mean time the mighty and once active energies of our State seemed to become paralized ; 
the works lately undertaken although of an important local, are wanting in a general 
character; and our neighboring State, Pennsylvania, has continued her gigantic eflbrts, 
undaunted by the obstacles of nature, unmindful of the doubts of the timid, and regardless 
of the sneers and reproaches of the envious and misjudging, until she has become a power- 
ful rival and dangerous competitor for the trade of the great West. Her statesmen have 
most justly estimated her resources, and the rapid development of her wealth and reve- 
nues; and they have not paused in the discharge of their high and patriotic duties, to con- 
ciliate or appease the factious or the designing: no petty jealousies or distrust of her citi- 
keus or her strength has relaxed, her devotion to the public welfare and her rapid pro- 
gress, now calls upon the citizens of New York to decide whether the "Empire State" 
shall take a second rank in the confederacy — we feel proudly confident of the response 
our fellow citizens will make on this subject. 

We cannot suppose that the Sub-Treasury scheme is to be recommended within our own 
State, although we have seen some Resolutions of the Loco-Foco's calling for it here. — 
We cannot view but with abhorrence, the proposition to collect the taxes from our 
farmers, the Canal Revenues, Auction and Salt duties, and interest on the Bonds 'and 
Mortgages, constituting the State funds, in gold and silver only, and to withdraw it from 
the people and hoard it in strong boxes. 

We conclude thi? address by again recurring to the distinctive pyrinciples of the Demo- 
cratic Republican party as derived from its early organization and practices, and the ne- 
cessity of proclaiming and adhering to those principles from which the loco-foco's would 
have drawn us. In repeating our unwavering determination to maintain and defend these 
tjreat "Essential principles" of our Government, we may say in the language of James 
Madison : — " It is a contest which appeals for its support to every motive that can animate 
an uncorrupted and enlightened people, to the love of Country, to the pride of Liberty, to 
an emulation of the glorious founders of independence, by a successful vindication of its 
violatedattributes, and to the sacred obligation of transmitting entire to future genera- 
tions, that precious patrimony of national rights and independence which is held in trust 
by the present, from the goodness of DiviTve Providence." 



THE END. 



Lh 1\) 'JO 



